High-Risk Rescue, page 9
“Hurry!” Brett’s shout snatched Ayden to the moment.
His brother hovered outside the fuselage of the crashed helicopter. Brett had done a fantastic job of landing—they’d survived, and the cabin was mostly intact.
“Okay. She’s waking up. Let me just...”
A deep frown carved into her beautiful but stunned features. “Ayden. You’re okay.” Her words didn’t go with the frown.
“Yes, I’m good. Now, let’s get you out of here.”
He suddenly realized that her expression probably had everything to do with her predicament. The pilot seat had crumpled back over her legs. Panic engulfed him, and he couldn’t catch his breath.
God, please don’t let them be crushed. Oh, Hannah... He composed his features so he wouldn’t give away his fear. “Are you in pain?”
She shook her head, but she could still be injured. “I’m going to shove the seat forward and I need you to pull your legs out.”
If they weren’t crushed. Trepidation slithered through him, but he would have faith. He had to believe she was okay.
“The tail is crumpled. Fuel is leaking,” Brett shouted. “Get out. Now! This thing could blow.”
Ayden held her gaze, willing her to trust him. “You ready?”
She nodded.
Digging his shoulder into the leather seat, he shoved forward, and up, trying to lift it. Gritting his teeth, he used all his strength, but it still wouldn’t budge.
“A little help in here?” he shouted over his shoulder.
Brett crawled in behind him. “You’re taking too...long.”
Ayden didn’t like the fearful tone in his brother’s voice. But if nothing else, it speared urgency through him.
“Help me, Brett. Help me get this seat off her.”
“But she could be—”
Injured. Paralyzed, even. Hadn’t Brett just said they had to get her out before the helicopter blew up? “She’s not. She’s fine. Aren’t you, Hannah?” He leveled his gaze on her. Saw the sweat beading at her temples. “Please tell me that you’re good.”
She nodded, vehemently, almost as if she could make it true by wishing it so. “I’m good. I don’t feel any pain.”
He shared a brief look with his sibling. Not feeling any pain could mean she was definitely injured and that it was preventing her from feeling anything at all. But she hadn’t said that, and he was letting fear get the best of him. Besides, they didn’t have a choice. There was no time to wait for an ambulance or the Jaws of Life to cut her out if the helicopter could be about to blow up.
“I’ll go around to the other side,” Brett said.
Precious moments ticked by. At any minute, the fuel could ignite and race up to the chopper’s fuel tank and they would be toast. History.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Lord, please protect us.
Hannah whimpered.
He opened his eyes. “What is it? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“No. Just scared. Sorry.”
Brett appeared at the door next to Hannah. “I’m here. Let’s move this seat.” He eyed Ayden and nodded.
“Let’s do it.”
Together, they lifted the seat and shoved it forward. Ayden gritted his teeth against the strain. Come on, come on, come on.
“Hannah, you can do this, honey. Pull your legs out.”
She groaned and tugged, lifting her knees. “I’m good. I’m out!”
Relief washed through him yet again. He and Brett eased the seat down, and Ayden scooped her up in his arms, then backed out of the helicopter. With her still cradled against his chest, he hurried away from the danger until he was at a safe distance. Brett stayed on his heels until he stopped. They turned to look at the helicopter. Anticipating a possible explosion, Ayden gasped for breath as he waited and watched the crashed bird. Wonder coursed through him that they had all three survived the crash.
Fire ignited then...an explosion resounded. Helicopter chunks, shrapnel, burst around them. Flames licked the sky. Even from a safe distance, he could feel the heat.
He took in their surroundings—a grassy knoll near an office complex next to the lake. They could have hurt others, had this happened in the middle of the day instead of the middle of the night. His throat grew tight and dry.
Thank You, Lord. Their lives had been spared three times tonight. The men after her, the crash and now the explosion. He just didn’t know how much more they would have to endure. That she would have to endure.
“Um, Ayden...you can put me down now.” Her voice was warm and soft against his cheek.
He’d been focused on the explosion and keeping her safe and releasing her had never entered his mind. She could have died too many times tonight. Could have been injured. Paralyzed. He didn’t want to relinquish her and would rather hold her a little longer. He savored the way her soft form fit against him, the dizzying tingle triggered by her nearness, and suddenly the sweetest of memories rushed over him as he remembered all that he’d loved about Hannah.
And then he felt the sting of those memories. The painful bite.
A fire truck pulled onto the lawn along with an ambulance. Firemen jumped from the truck and hosed down the flames. EMTs burst from the ambulance and rushed toward them.
Ayden released Hannah and instructed a female medic to look her over.
Before he succumbed to his own examination, he pulled Brett aside. “You did good, bro. Coming for us like that. And that landing...you saved our lives.”
“I knew when I saw those men ambush the lobby and you were on your way to the top, I’d better head over per your protocols. Good call, man. And County had a helicopter parked on pad a couple of blocks over next to their headquarters, so that gave me a chance to get back fast as well as alert the locals.” Brett had been a warrant officer, flying helicopters in the military. Tonight had been harrowing, but Ayden saw now what a great team he and his siblings made.
A long time ago he’d thought he and Hannah made a good team, too.
He sat on a gurney as a medic tended to a cut on his forehead, and stared across the space at Hannah as a medic urged her to lie down on a stretcher. They were taking her in. She could still have internal injuries.
On too many fronts...she wasn’t out of danger yet.
NINE
Hannah shivered though the blue-haired medic named Lacy had placed a warm blanket over her in the ambulance. The paramedic had started an IV and explained Hannah was in mild shock. And here she’d felt silly being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
“You survived a helicopter crash, hon. That’s something to be grateful for,” Lacy said. “Count your many blessings as my grandmother would say.”
“Brett landed the helicopter, but it was a hard landing.” Maybe not a real crash, or they would be dead now.
I thought I was going to die.
“What about my friends? Are they okay?” Why was she asking? She’d seen both Brett and Ayden standing there, but also medics had been talking to them both.
“I think they’re going to the hospital too, hon. We’ll take good care of you. Your friends, too.”
It was all she could hope for.
She shut her eyes to try to stop the flow of tears from spilling down her temples as she lay on the stretcher. The terror of the last several hours whirled in her head like a tornado, a vortex trying to suck her up and trap her forever. She pushed past those images and thought of Ayden... He’d been there at every single turn.
And whether she’d wanted him to be or not. She tried to tell herself he had to be a bad person too, somewhere deep down, because his father had been the worst sort of human. Someone who judged others, literally, and yet committed crimes behind the scenes, taking bribes to change the outcome of criminal trials. Ayden was his son, after all, and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree—at least that’s how the old saying went.
But that couldn’t be true... Hannah’s father had been the worst sort of person too, and Hannah was nothing like him.
When Ayden had held her close, she’d felt safe and cherished, though she knew that his actions had nothing at all to do with cherishing her. But...wow...she could totally have been fooled by the protective vibe emanating from him. And the tenderness.
She could have let herself linger in that feeling. For a few moments in his arms—despite the shock of the crash—she’d soaked up the emotions coming off him and wrapping around her. She could have stayed cocooned in his arms for an eternity. Or at least the rest of the night.
Being in his arms had the strange effect of reminding her how her father’s presence conveyed the complete opposite of safety and protection, especially given the violence he’d shown toward her mother. It had taken a lot for Hannah to allow Ayden into her life, her heart, all those years ago, because she’d been conditioned to believe that men couldn’t be trusted. She’d taken that risk with him and had almost been fooled when Ayden’s father had proved her right.
Men couldn’t be trusted.
At least she hadn’t let Ayden all the way in. She’d never told him about her alcoholic abusive father. Never taken him to see her mother. Because she’d been embarrassed. Ayden’s father had driven it home for her when he’d offered her a check to stay out of Ayden’s life. The worst part—she’d taken it.
She’d been too stunned. She’d taken what he’d handed to her and held it as he explained what it meant.
Hannah recalled that moment she sat on the park bench, the judge walking away from her. She pressed the check that represented all the pain she’d felt her whole life against her chest, and cried, huge racking sobs. The judge hadn’t thought her good enough for Ayden. In fact, she hadn’t thought herself good enough either, but she could pretend at least for a while. And the man had shined the light on her secret truth—she came from a poor family and was the product of a worthless father, though he’d died long ago.
And she’d taken that check, broken up with Ayden as requested and lived with the shame of her actions every day since.
But the truth was, she’d been keeping secrets from Ayden long before the judge stepped between them.
And now, that was another big secret—the reason why she’d broken things off with him. She’d taken that check, at first, but then...she’d tried to give it back.
She could never tell him what had happened next.
So they could never be together. She shook her head—the confusing thoughts had no business in her mind when her life was constantly being threatened. But it was easier to think about troubles of the heart, the betrayals, than the psycho killers after her.
The ambulance suddenly stopped, and the doors opened. EMTs pulled the gurney out and pushed her through the emergency room entrance. Lacy bent over her and squeezed her hand. “You’re in good hands now. Take care.”
She watched the woman’s face briefly as the stretcher was rolled away. Then she let the numbness set in and instead watched the ceiling tiles, tears still streaking down her temples and soaking the pillow.
Lord, what is happening to me?
* * *
Ayden marched down the sterile hallway following a nurse, the antiseptic scents accosting his nose. He hadn’t needed an immediate examination and promised to check in with his personal doctors if he started feeling any pain. But since Hannah had experienced more trauma than he or his brother, they’d ordered tests to be sure she was okay. X-rays, and he wasn’t sure what else.
Brett had waited to meet Caine and Everly in the waiting room and give them an update, while Ayden went in search of Hannah. He’d learned the security guard, Melvyn, was recovering from surgery to remove the bullet and was expected to make a full recovery.
Ayden was relieved to hear it.
Finally, the nurse paused at a door, glanced at him, then knocked. She poked her head through. “You have a visitor. Can we come in?”
“Yes,” Hannah said. “I’m good.”
The nurse opened the door and Ayden followed her inside the small room. She pulled the curtain along the track out of the way. Hannah was sitting on the examination table as if waiting to get out of here, expectation in her eyes.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” she said.
He almost laughed. “Of course. I was already here. I’m in this with you.” He glanced at the nurse, willing her to give them privacy.
“I’ll be back with discharge instructions.” She exited and closed the door behind her.
“What did the doctor say?” He looked her over, happy to see that she had good color in her cheeks.
“I’m fine. I could have bruising on my legs, but right now they feel fine. I can call my primary care physician if anything comes up. The ER doc’s mostly concerned about back pain.”
It was a hard landing, though, so they could all face that issue. Still, relief swelled inside. He took her hand, remembering the moment when he thought she might be seriously injured, or they might both have died if he hadn’t gotten her out from under the seat before the helicopter exploded. They needed to have a serious talk about everything that happened tonight.
But not now. Not yet.
He had priorities and he hoped she was on the same page. “Once you’re released, we need to figure out where you’re going next.”
Her brows pinched together. “What are you talking about?”
“Your well-being, what else? You need to stay at a safe house until this is over. Surely you now realize that after what happened tonight. If you had any doubt before about being targeted, they should no longer exist.”
“Going to a safe house isn’t as easy as all that. I won’t leave my mother. She’s terminal and could only have a few months left. I will not go into hiding, afraid for my life, and leave her alone.”
“Then will you put her life in jeopardy by staying with her and bringing that danger to her?” He took a step closer. “My suggestion includes your mother. She’ll be at a safe house too. That way she’s protected, and you don’t have to worry.” God, please...let her see reason. Help me keep her safe.
His gut clenched as he waited for her response.
Tears welled in her green eyes, and that sent a stab of pain through his heart, but they didn’t spill over. More than anything, Ayden wanted to hold her again.
This woman broke your heart! Don’t forget it.
The air in the small space grew stifling.
“My mother—” she hung her head as if grasping for the right words, then lifted her face “—she receives weekly infusions for her illness. It’s not possible to hide somewhere. Don’t you understand?”
Okay. Ayden hadn’t even thought to ask about her medical treatments. He clasped his hands behind his back and closed his eyes for a moment to think.
This couldn’t be the first time someone with significant health issues needed to stay in a secure place. He opened his eyes again. “Then we can figure out how to get a nurse to come to the safe house.”
Still, that would also be a risk and could expose Hannah and her mother.
“Or we can transport your mom from the safe house to get her infusions. We’ll figure it out. But the best solution to ensure your safety is to find out who was behind the attack at the conference center. Who was behind the attack on you tonight? It might help if you told me the truth. You never answered me about what was on the USB drive. Tell me what you were doing in Stevens’s office.”
She rubbed her arms and averted her gaze.
Suspicion curled through him. Hannah wasn’t involved in the bad going on here. She couldn’t be. And he couldn’t feel this crazy suspicion about a woman he’d once wanted to marry. Had he not known her at all?
“Just like you,” she said, “I simply wanted to know what my boss was up to. I was his assistant. His ‘clone,’ but I hadn’t seen anything that would raise my suspicions. Maybe he hid something from even me. It was his company after all. He wanted me to see what he wanted me to see and nothing more. I thought if I could copy all his files, I could look through them to see what came up.”
If Hannah was telling the truth—and he wanted to believe she was—then he was more than surprised that she would suddenly turn detective and want to investigate. She’d almost been killed, and her life was at stake, and yet she walked right back into a dangerous situation because she was determined to find the truth?
She was still hiding something, though, he could tell. And he wouldn’t stop probing until she told him everything.
Including why she ended things with him.
If he just knew the reason, then maybe he could move on, even after nine years. Regardless, he knew better than to let himself feel anything for Hannah. He remembered the betrayal of the past and that should be enough, but something about this woman he once loved had enchanted him all over again. So he steeled himself against her captivating green eyes and concentrated on the matter at hand, like any good protection specialist should. One that didn’t have a past with the woman he safeguarded.
“Why not wait for the police?”
“The police! Come on, they aren’t even considering his death a murder. They think Alfred’s death was just collateral damage.”
He said nothing but just waited and listened. Maybe she would keep talking.
“And I was afraid that if he was killed for a reason, that reason could disappear.”
“Disappear how?”
“Someone could destroy the files. Whoever was behind this could find them and make them disappear.”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “I hope you realize that by doing this, you’ve made yourself even more of a target.”
